Healing Ministry 1
Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 2008
S ounding board
Crafting
end-of-life care
Father Dn. Thomas Johnson-Medland, CSJ, OSL
True beauty in crafted objects
lies in the space that these objects
call us into—a sacred space sur-
rounding them. It is no different
with quality end-of-life care. It
should call us into a space that
gives us pause and cause to
acknowledge its deeper qualities.
When I think of the deeper
qualities of crafted objects,
whether they be art, furniture,
architecture, or artful objects my
mind immediately goes to the
Shakers. Part of that is my love
for the simple beauty of straight
lines and openness. Another
part of that connection is having
grown up in rural Bucks
County, PA. Shakers and
Quakers left their mark all
around us. I also recognize roots
Father Dn. Thomas Johnson-Medland, CSJ,
OSL, Lighthouse Hospice, Cherry Hill,
New Jersey.
in this connection come from my
family’s love of antiques.
When I hold the Shaker vision
in my heart, I hear words like
clean, linear, functional, warm,
plain, elegant, simple, wooden,
rich, balanced, paired, spiritual,
quiet, and enduring. Aside from
the physical vision of their art
and innovation, there is the spiri-
tual life the imbued and the gift
to work that they gave.
Shaker values of simplicity,
stillness, and functional beauty
fill everything Shaker. I think
that my OCD nature loves all the
little boxes and baskets they
made. And, let me not forget the
countless seeds they filled the
world with. If there were bean
counters in the simple life, it was
the Shakers.
I start with these simple inno-
vators of beauty and elegance
because I believe they are a good
departure point for considering
the crafting of quality end-of-life
care. What goes into crafting
something beautiful and elegant?
I first and foremost believe
that it should be simple. It should
call us into some sacred space
where we feel glad to be a part of
it and at home with it at the same
time. There is no reason why hos-
pice patients and families should
not have the feeling of ease and
comfort when the hospice work-
er enters their home or room.
You know the feeling of walk-
ing into a striking hotel or a sen-
sational mansion. It gives you
pause. Part of the pause that it
gives us is because it is orderly
and uncluttered and its fine
pieces feel exquisite—but simple.
Too long we have felt that simple
is simple because of some sort of
connection to being primitive.
Simple tends to be simple
2 Healing Ministry
Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 2008
because it is given uncrowded
space to observe—physically and
emotionally as well.
We should carry with us such
a sense of caring that people are
given pause to feel at ease. This is
important in any therapeutic
relationship, but I feel especially
strong about this in hospice care.
People should give a sigh of
relief when we appear<AQ1>. If
we are not providing this milieu
for patients and families, we are
not crafting quality care.
Another vital feature of this
kind of care is that it is innova-
tive. Innovation is the movement
forward into concern for things
being functional and useful but
also consistent and traditional.
Innovation ties us to what is to
be. Innovation links what is with
what will be. It looks at an old
way of doing something, consid-
ers who we are and what is going
on around us and then it builds a
new way of executing.
We innovate when we suggest
remodelings and rearrange-
ments of small space so people
are safe. We innovate when we
include placing boxes of tissues
on every desk and table in a hos-
pice facility. We innovate when
we recognize the difficulty we
have getting equipment to
patients on time and build our
own equipment company to
expedite this need.
Our care can be innovative,
too. We can innovate the use of
AQ1: Please check if the edited version of the sentence conveys the intended
meaning
our time with patients by always
beginning each visit, from every
discipline, by sitting down next
to the patient, looking at them,
and slowly asking them, “How
was your night?” or “How are
you today?”
We can innovate how we edu-
cate our patients and families by
making available multiple forms
of information. Posting podcasts
and webcasts with medical
instructions can be one form,
while at the same time posting
digital files and articles, while
making all of these available in
paper formats and portable
videos—in both Spanish and
English (and any other appropri-
ate languages).
But what about those other
words: linear, functional, warm,
plain, elegant, simple, rich, bal-
anced, paired, spiritual, quiet,
and enduring. How do we work
these things into the care that we
provide? How do we instill these
values in our hearts and the
hearts of our workers so they lit-
erally change the shape of care.
In the middle-ages, guilds
were established for many rea-
sons. One reason was to give a
layer of camaraderie to artist
communities. It was also a form
of unionization and a way of set-
ting standards and goals amid
competitive environments.
The guilds were filled with
apprentices, journeymen, and
master craftsman. Each step of
the journey led to the next. The
ultimate goal of master crafts-
man was attained when your
MASTERPIECE was finished
and approved by the guild. This
masterpiece was your legacy to
history.
What will our masterpiece of
care look like? Will we provide
quality care at end-of-life for
every patient and family—
EVERYTIME? What will our
legacy be?
If we wish to accomplish great
things in care for the dying we
would do well to sit down and
list out what we think a master-
piece of art should exude. Use
that list to start a conversation
about what hospice care should
exude. They should run parallel.
Then use that list to begin the
process of aligning all your com-
pany’s standards, practices, and
functions so that at every level
you are creating not only a mind-
set of excellence but a legacy of
beauty and elegance.
When I am lying in my bed of
death, I want the people who
come to me to bring with them a
healing space, a space of peace. I
also want them to bring with them
a space of exquisite presence. It is a
new journey in our life, should we
not feel that we are being taken
care of with the same depth of hos-
pitality we would find at the Ritz-
Carlton or Disney.
Let us be about the crafting of
quality end-of-life care.